Street View Comes to The High Line

I have no idea how they did it, but Google Street View has now mapped New York City’s High Line park. I’ve written before about the High Line, but to make it brief, the High Line is an elevated park that meanders above the streets along portions of some of Manhattan’s west side neighbourhoods.

Currently the High Line is about a mile long, but over time it will be extended at least another half mile or so to provide yet another unique New York experience to the millions of visitors and New Yorkers who had enjoyed promenading along its length. Last year Google donated $1 million to the High Line, so I guess it is only fitting that the company give the elevated park the Street View treatment.

The following video gives you a brief taste of the project and only adds to my desire to visit the park again on my next visit to New York City.

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You can see another video (narrated by the actor Ethan Hawke) outlining the history of the High Line here…

The Bitter End – A Winner Never Quits

The Bitter End is one of those classic Greenwich Village venues that have been around since the 1960s. With regard to The Bitter End, the venue has been hosting live music, comedy and other entertainments since 1961.

So many famous and infamous musicians have performed at the Bitter End, that it would take a couple of pages just to list them all. However, how about these for starters: Woody Allen, America, Tori Amos, Joan Armatrading, Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Harry Chapin, Tracy Chapman, Judy Collins, Shawn Colvin, Chick Corea, Jim Croce, David Crosby, Billy Crystal, Miles Davis, John Denver, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Jose Feliciano, Steve Forbert, Steve Goodman, Stephane Grappelli, Arlo Guthrie, Bill Haley, Tim Hardin, John Hartford, Richie Havens, Gil Scott Heron, Norah Jones, Billy Joel, Kris Kristofferson, Patti La Belle, Jay Leno, Neil Young, Lady Gaga, and many thousands more.

I have made a point of going to The Bitter End (at 147, Bleecker Street), on both my stays in New York City. More specifically, I have made regular visits to catch the All Star Jam that performs from 10pm until late on the second and fourth Sunday of each month.

I filmed the clip embedded here, during one of the Jams in August, 2010. On drums is the shows host, Mark Greenberg, along with regular bassist Brett Bass. Singing duties on the number filmed here are by Danny Thompson (guitar and vocals). Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the other guitarist’s name, although at one point Thompson seems to refer to him as ‘Benny’.

I have a number of other clips waiting to be turned into videos and as soon as I have done so, I will upload them to my YouTube page and let you know via this blog. In the meantime, enjoy...

Visit The Bitter End website…

A Master Class in Animation From Terry Gilliam

Open Culture has fast become one of my favourite online sites. There is so much great information on there that I find myself regularly sharing interesting links and content through these pages.

Today’s Viewing List includes another nod to Open Culture for bringing the inimitable Terry Gilliam to my attention. Terry, you should know, is the legendary animator with the Monty Python team (and if you don’t know who they are, you should hang your head in shame).

Gilliam was born in Medicine Lake, Minnesota, and began his career as an animator and strip cartoonist, and went on to become a highly regarded screenwriter, film director, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. To name just a handfull, among his many directorial credits are Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985), The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). Since this is a travel site, embedded here is a video of Gilliam’s 1974 animation, The Miracle of Flight.

If you are tempted to try making your own animations, the following 14+ minute video shows you how to make your own cut-out animations.



Thanks to Biblioklept and Open Culture for bringing this to our attention.